Keep Climate Change in the Curriculum – Easy as 1, 2, 3

Right now, the government is considering dropping climate change from the national Geography curriculum.

This means that if you don’t choose to take GCSE Geography, you could go through school not even hearing about climate change (find out the details here). As one of the biggest challenges our generation is facing, we think this is unacceptable – how can we effectively tackle climate change and safeguard a clean, fair future without knowing what it is?

As environmental ambassadors, we hope you will join us in fighting against the proposed plans. We’ve got until April 16th to get our voices heard – so let’s make sure we shout about this loud enough to mean we can’t be ignored!

There are three simple ways you can help keep climate change in the curriculum today – take your pick of which to do first, and join a movement of students, teachers and environmental campaigners standing together for our right to learn the necessary skills and knowledge for the 21st century.

1. Get creative talking direct to the government

The government wants to hear the reaction of the public on their proposals. They are looking for responses until 16 April. As young people, it’s really important that all our voices are heard.

All you need to do is send an email explaining why you think climate change should be kept in the Geography curriculum for under 14s to nationalcurriculum.consultation@education.gsi.gov.uk

The great thing about this is that you can respond however you want – in a word document, by attaching photos, videos – anything! So why not use the opportunity to get creative in your school? Here are a few ideas that would really make the government stop and think:

Re-use the contents of your recycling box to create an image or collage that shows why your group of friends or your class think it’s important to learn about climate change

Design posters showing the reasons why we should all study climate change

Film a short video of you and your friends explaining why learning about climate change matters to you

You can then submit the photos, PDFs or even video files of your creative activities as consultation responses on the above email address – just remember to make clear in the subject line of the email that you are emailing to respond to the consultation.

Remember – the consultation closes on 16 April. Why not use the last day of term of the first day back after the holidays to get creative?

If you’d like some inspiration or would like to share your creative responses with others (we’d love to see them!), you can upload them to our tumblr blog – http://teachclimate.tumblr.com/

If we can keep the media spotlight on this issue over the next month, we’re more likely to get Gove to reverse his plans.

The issue has already received some great national coverage in the Guardian, including a blog by 15 year old pupil Esha from Hounslow, London. But we need your help to get the issue in the local press. Try writing a simple press release to your local paper explaining what you’re doing in protest and include quotes from your fellow pupils (and teachers!) about why climate change education is so important. If you want any help, get in touch at press@ukycc.org.

3. Sign the petitions!

With three organisations taking the lead on this there is something for everyone. Please sign and share far and wide on Facebook, Twitter and by telling everyone in person too!

We know that teaching young people about climate change is crucial to help prepare us for our changing world. Please join us in working to keep climate change in the curriculum – and have fun while you’re at it!